Even his friends call him Red Adair these days. But within Sam Allardyce, there finally seems to be a softening of old urges to set them straight.
There has been an underlying frustration in this great survivor who has tended, with some justification, to see himself as more than just a fighter of fires.
But for now it would appear such typecasting is no bad thing. Sam is the man to call in a jam, as the reputation goes, and that is precisely why he finds himself back in the big show, with West Bromwich in a desperate mess in 19th.